Thick Web Switch (TWS) – Lesson Learnt during Maintenance in
Churchgate -Virar Section of MMCT/WR
Ankit Lodha,Sr.DSTE/S/MMCT, WR
Mahtab Alam-DSTE/S/MMCT, WR
1 Introduction action thereafter.
TWS Points failures with 6-7 mm gap have max num-
In the suburban section of western railway from bers – It may be due to following two categories-
Churchgate to Virar section has 1550 services per day
with heavy traffic section the study covers over 159 A. Obstruction at 160 mm stroke- (Engineering
TWS points out of 650 points over the stretch of 60 km Defect) i.e. Toung Rail not Housing/Clamp lock
from CCG-VR section with a significant concentration jammed due to excessive creep (It can be easily
in the Borivali, Andheri, Vasai Road station yard. identified as, in such condition, open Toung Rail
The findings contribute to improving the reliability of opens, only up to 100 mm and close rail clamp, fish
point machine operations, reducing maintenance, and tail not completely disengaged as it is obstructed
enhancing train safety through optimized mechanical at 60+100=160 strokes only. In this case it may
adjustments and alignment practices. By identifying be difficult to fill the gap even with crow bars too,
and resolving the root causes of TWS failures, this as obstruction may be rigid and this type Obstruc-
research aims to contribute to more efficient and safer tion may be due to level difference of Tongue rail
railway point machine operations across a broad range to stock rails/Tilted bolt or pressed stock rail flange
of railway networks. creating Obstruction at heel side.
This paper investigates frequent failures in TWS switch B. Obstruction after completing 220 mm stroke-It
mechanisms within railway point machines, with a par- can be easily identified as on such condition open
ticular focus on the 6-7 mm gap between the tongue rail Toung Rail opens complete 160mm and clamp lock
and stock rail, a primary contributor to operational fail- completely disengaged but remains 3-4 mm gap but
ures. Failures are primarily categorized into two types: point get set when pressed by crowbar as there is no
obstructions occurring during the 160 mm stroke, often hard and physical Obstruction. The reason may be-
due to engineering defects or misalignment, and those
1. Tough Rail has spring and excessive play in
arising after the full 220 mm stroke, typically caused by
clamp lock, due to this Tough Rail does not
excessive play in the clamp lock mechanism. The pa-
fill the gap as soon as clamp lock is disengaged
per emphasizes the importance of accurately identify-
Hence inside Machine rotary lock creates Ob-
ing the point of obstruction to enable targeted interven-
struction as it is attached with Toung Rail only
tions. Key solutions explored include the use of shims
and not came in alignment, have no independent
in clamp lock adjustments to reduce the clamp adjust-
power, moves as per Toung rail movement. This
ment, precise adjustments to locking rods to manage
issue may be solved by S&T with appropriate
excessive opening, and strategies to address rail creep
insertion of shims in clamp lock to fill the play
and misalignment.
and logical setting of locking rod i.e. for 5mm
test piece response.
2 TWS Failures due to housing issue
From the above it has emerged that corrective ac-
(Failing with 6- 7 mm gap).
tion is very easy if it identified that whether Ob-
TWS failures with such 5-7 mm gap are frequent in struction is at 160 mm movement or at 220mm
suburban section, it will be great help if at the of fail- movements. S&T can mitigate the failure it-
ure it is noted immediately who reach at site first that self if reason is later one, that is Obstructionafter
whether Obstruction occurring at 160 mm stroke or af- complete 220mm stroke.
ter complete 220mm stroke which will be defines the 2. Effect of excessive opening of open switch-
root cause of failures, hence quick and certain remedial There is no harm if Toung Rail opening is more
than 160mm also there is no means to reduce it, ii. Above is still correct but appropriate use of
higher opening may be due to various tolerances shims plays a very crucial role for proper ad-
besides the wider Engineering Gauge, but It justment of clamp lock assembly itself.
must be almost equal in both normal and reverse iii. Visualize the close tongue rail movement,
side, and this can be easily achieved by driving it moves with Pt M/C movement until fish
rod adjustment. (If the opening of Toung Rail tail not disengaged and after that only draw-
in open condition is not equally distributed on ing bar moves along with open tongue rail
both sides, say if it is more than 6mm, a wider movement.
notch of non-corresponding locking slide may iv. If the excessive play, suppose 5mm, there
create obstructions inside Pt. machine (IRS will be no stroke on close tongue as fish tail
type, independent locking slides) as there is of clamp lock already disengaged. Some-
only approx. 8-10 mm tolerance). times this gap does not appear as may be
filled by SSD but points to be noted that, gap
TWS Machine have a total of 220mm stroke, not travelled by drawing force and may re-
normally 100+60=160mm stroke used to close main untraveled if SSD factor does not work
the open tongue rail and remaining 60 mm is due to minor obstruction/friction and draw-
used for clamp lock movement. If opening is ing force is completely absent.
more than 160mm then part of the stroke in-
tended for clamp lock utilized in tongue rail
movement deficit, that’s why there is practi-
cally no adverse effects even opening is around
180mm both sides (Like the earlier observed in
8.5 switch).
3. Effect of wider Engineering Gauge Vs variation
in gauge- ± 6mm Engineering Gauge variations
is permitted and there is a no issue from S&T
side with respect to fine adjustment of Point as
there is a total 220mm(60+100+60) stroke in
high thrust Pt. machine and only 160mm move-
ment is required for each Toung Rail If there is
more than 160mm movement is required in case
Toung Rail opening is more than 160mm then Figure 1:
shortfall of stroke automatically will be compen-
sated from 60mm locking stroke but if gauge v. Hence despite it is true that shims not to be
varies latter on, i.e. after S&T adjustment the used formerly to reduce excessive opening
Pt. machine (Rotary locking) then Pt. may not of tongue rail not to be used but it have log-
respond with 5mm test peace also may kept open ical uses to adjust clamp lock so that it have
corresponding to gauge variation at Toung Rail the play of 1-2 mm i.e. it should not be com-
close Condition which is not acceptable as may pletely jammed nor have more than 2mm
hamper the train safety. gap Probable reasons for excessive play
4. TWS S&T Adjustment Instruction- During a (>2mm) may be due to non-precise manu-
short Meeting with SSE/In charge, SE/HQ & facturing being molded type/Excessive fil-
SE/Cables, one very interesting thing emerged ing during fittings etc.
regarding appropriate uses of shims to adjust the
5. Frequent tongue rail out of square issue –
point so that it always respond in 5 mm and
As tongue rail is completely floating up to 20th
also considerable reduction in failure on account
sleeper i.e. Design as no Wiliam Stretcher
merely 2/3 mm gap in between tongue and stock
bar and it is bolted with stock rails at 21nd
rail as-
& 22nd sleepers only, hence highly prone to
i. It is generally accepted that shims not to be creep specially at the places of unidirectional
provided merely to reduce excessive open- movements due to shearing of these stock bolts
ing of open- tongue rail as excessive open- causes GC becomes out of the square, resulting
ing has no harm, but it consumes clamp lock obstruction in clamp lock, clamp lock work
tolerance i.e. 2/3mm. inside a tight channel, any creep affects its
Table 1:
Sl. No RDSO Drg De- Dimensions as Problem observed Modification Done
tails per RDSO Drg.
1. Accommodation a. Length of far No action required as
of far end rods end indication Drg. Already super-
i.e. indication rod 2160mm seded.
and locking rods b. Length of
with respect far end locking
to fixing of rod–2080 mm
Point machine
@ 985mm
(RDSO/S-3365-
TWS Dated
16.11.2018)
2. Accommodation a.Length of far a&b) These rod lengths Length of rod’s to be
of far-end rods end indication need be further reduced further reduced as- Far
i.e. indication rod 2140mm to made proper fitting as end indication rod-from
and locking rods b.Length of per reduced distance of 2140mm to 2100mm.
with respect to far end locking Pt. machine with respect Length of far end lock-
fixing of Pt. ma- rod –2060mm to nearest rail (Revise ing rod–from 2060 mm
chine 970mm c. Rod lug Drg .RDSO/S/3454 Alt to 2040mm Width of
(RDSO/S/3454 width–70mm ‘A’ dated 22.10.2019) lugs needs to be reduced
Alt ‘A’ Being b. Longer rod from 70mm to 65mm
dated22.10.2019) length, all threads con- (All 4rods)
sumed & no space left
for further any fine ad-
justment. c. During
Pt operation its entangles
with each other.
3. Alignment issue TWS drive rod lug For Time being Rub-
of drive rod lug (Drg.no.RDSO/S3461) ber pads may be pro-
with machine to be modified RDSO vided under Point M/C to
slide that rod will raise ap- achieve GC-Pt M/C ver-
prox. 5mm to make tical alignment.
entire GC to Machine
connection in perfect
horizontal position,
this will not only help
to reduces the friction
inside the clamp but also
improve smoothness.
functioning adversely due to disturb alignment. neering side, clamp lock distance to be increased
(Some creep arresting methods like welding of by 15mm as Clamp lock distance as now as
stock rail at heel blocks may reduce the problem per RDSO Drg. is 443mm as compared with
at some extent) the initial drawing. (Both hole distance will be
shifted by 15mm towards the heel side accord-
ingly), with no change in stock rail clamp po-
Clamp Lock Jamming Issue due to Creep- As sition. Hence 15mm added distance eliminate
per Engineering 20mm out of square is permitted following 4 issues–
but presently clamp becoming jammed within
this limit also. To overcome the above issue • Tolerance to creep became within Engg per-
besides preventing creep arrangement by Engi- missible limit (20mm) in some extend.
• It’s increased the gap in between insu-
lated ‘P’ bracket and non-insulated clamp
(5mm), hence eliminates the chances of
track circuit failures in this reason. Need to
round of rectangular Cu bush of clamp lock
will be eliminated
6. Recent Drg Modification got done from RDSO-
To overcome the some teething issues, RDSO
have been approached and desired correction in
drawings got done, same being implemented in
new TWS laying-(Elaborated reasons tabulated
in Table 1)
3 Conclusion
It is Experience that after implementation of above
drawing corrections in TWS installation and above
learnings about fine adjustment, significant reduce the
attention on TWS failures reduce in Suburban section
in CCG-VR section.
ShriAnkit lodha, IRSSE. 2011
BATCH IRSSE Officer. Now
working as Sr DSTE Wks
looking after Church gate
to Virar suburban section of
Mumbai Central division,
Western railway.
Shri Mehtab Alam is working
as DSTE Wks looking after
Church gate to Virar suburban
section of Mumbai Central di-
vision, Western railway.
